Fines Is Fine
By Roberto Muggiati
Bernard Fines
Few people know it, but the chap is no stranger to Paraná. He participated in environmental projects in Guaraqueçaba and played guitar jam sessions in bars in Curitiba (Bar Hermes, amongst others) in the last two decades. I am talking about Bernard Fines, the new sensation in vocal improvisation in Brazil. “Sensation” is no hyperbole: to record two albums in three years in our rarefied jazz scene is truly a miracle. In 2008, Bernard released the CD “Sous le Ciel de Paris” with the Julio Bittencourt Jazz Trio; a collection of jazzified French songs, and is now preparing the launch of “Muito Merci”, with the same trio; a mix of Brazilian and French classics and, as he says, a good amount of boldness.
Born in France 43 years ago and living in Brazil for 15, Bernard studied classical piano, toyed with fusion and MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), and dabbled in environmental and acoustic engineering, before finding his true vocation as a singer, an incredible cross between chansonnier and crooner. In recent years, he lived in Penedo (RJ), where he organised the Village Jazz Bistro’s programme. The Julio Bittencourt trio is from in Cruzeiro (SP), 60 km away. It is formed by brothers Julio (drums), Luciano (electric guitar) and Benjamin BJ Bentes (bass guitar). However, the trio and Bernard live on the road. Last year, in the best clubs in Rio, Sao Paulo and surrounding districts, they presented their Jazz à la Carte project; a rich musical menu from which the public chooses their favourites. There are 100 songs, from A (“A rã”; “Água de beber”) to W (“Wave”; “What a Difference a Day Made”) – I would suggest the inclusion of Z (“Zingaro”, as “Retrato em preto e branco” is known by jazz musicians, which is already included under the letter R). “All the Things You Are”, “Days of Wine and Roses”, “Desafinado”, “Ne me quitte pas”, “Summertime” – Bernard knows them all by heart. When someone asks for the Dizzy Gillespie classic “Night in Tunisia”, he answers firmly, with his own lyric, in French, “Une Nuit à Tunis”, “the story of a young man who seeks, unsuccessfully, to seduce a girl.” I tried to trip Bernard up by requesting “Girl Talk”, by Neal Hefti, with lyrics by Bobby Troup, which was called “the last great male-chauvinist song of the ‘60s. He immediately responded with Claude Nougaro’s French version, “Dansez sur moi”, which I did not know of. What should be said about the complicated jazz standards like “Round Midnight”, “Take Five” and “Impressions”? Bernard sings them all, with guts and grace.
“Muito Merci” heralds a series of changes. There are 16 tracks: three of his own compositions in French; many partnerships in which Bernard is the lyricist (Luiz Melodia, Zeca Baleiro, Nelson Faria, Peranzzetta Gilson, Daniela Spielmann, Luis Alves, Mario Seve, Marvio Ciribelli, Bruce Henri); and some amazing reissues of Brazilian (the Nu jazz “Começar de novo”, by Ivan Lins) or French classics (the bossa nova “Non, je ne regrette rien”, by Edith Piaf; the latin “Michele” by Gérard Lenorman; and the acoustic/funk “F comme Femme”, by Salvatore Adamo). Changes are also occurring in Bernard’s life; the father of year-old twins, he has gone back to work as an acoustic engineer at Peugeot Citroen of Brazil and has just moved to the city of Sao Paulo, where the launch of the new CD is to take place. By now, restless as he is, he is probably already thinking about the third.
